Kala Gujran

Kala Gujran is a town and union council of Jhelum District in the Punjab Province of Pakistan. It is part of Jhelum Tehsil,^[1] and is located at 33°10'48N 72°57'59E with an altitude of 467 metres (1535 feet).^[2]

Kala Gujran is near Jhelum City. Pakistan Tobacco Company is based at Jada which is a suburb of Kala Gujran. Until its recent demise the Fauji Mill complex was a major employer in the area, it used to produce cloth for export and distribution all across Pakistan.

There is an annual Daand Mela (Bull race fair) held in the outskirts of Kala Gujran in Jada. Held in March every year it is an established event dating back many hundreds of years, It is held in collaboration within a circuit of melas including kantrili and Chakmal in Gujrat

History

Kala Gujran is strategically located on the route of the old GT road and predates the city of Jhelum in its importance. It has been a significant market town and Gujjar stronghold since ancients times with the Hindu and then the Sikhs rulers leaving their marks in the town. If you look around the old bazaar you will still find relics of these ancient cultures.

In particular the area surrounding the old school has lakes locally known as the five sisters, so called as they drained into each other with five pippal trees planted in line. There were five ancient but important Hindu temples mandirs on the site, abandoned and subsequently destroyed during partition. The leading temple had a traceable underground tunnel leading directly to a covered "kooh" (Persian water wheel irrigation system in an outpost agricultural settlement) on the towns northbound outskirts, along the Chak Jamal Rd. This was reputedly run by a powerful courtesan presumably to afford safe passage for the chieftains or priests during times of conflict. There are reports of some local "koohs" having tablets of stone at the bottom with carvings dating back many hundreds of years.

There are also planted Sacred Fig (Ficus religiosa)"Pippal" trees in a line going all the way from Kala Gujran up to what is now known as the Mangla Fort affording an identifiable safe route passage all the way to the fort at Mangla also known as Ramkot. It is not known if the passages could be traced from Rohtas or Tilla Jogian to Mangla forts but part of it most definitely passes from Kala Gujran to Mangla. In Tilla Jogian and ancient ramkot now mangla there are also similar lakes or tanks that drain into each other. The elders and historian bards of the Kala Gujran locale speak of many people even in recent times having their ears pierced in line with what has been happening in the Tilla Jogian and Kala Gujran areas for centuries. The lakes and the school are currently in a very dilapidated and neglected state the mandirs have gone with the only trace being left is a few marble foor tiles. In common with most of region - little thought being given to the preservation of its rich and important cultural history. The sporting traditions with the kara or annual bull race is still kept very much alive, in recent years it has been preserved and promoted by the Pakistani Diaspora based in the UK.

The Gujjars of the area have variously been described as a problematic but powerful tribe in particular the Tikri Gujjar clan. They have an interesting history and genetic lineage, traceable back to Georgia and Salauddinsaladin. The tribe had some admirable and historically important battles against Christianity alongside their chiefSaladin in the crusades of the Middle Ages. It is of some notoriety that the infamous Saddam Hussain shares the same lineage having originated from Tikrit in northern Iraq. The lineage can also be traced to the courts at Ajmer Sharif in India. There are numerous references to the Tikkri Gujjars being an important tribe in the area and beyond with many towns and regions named after the tribe.

There were significant Sikh and Muslim Gujjars from this area leading in the nearby Battle of Chillianwala. Fought during the Second Anglo-Sikh War in the Chillianwala region of Punjab. The battle was one of the bloodiest fought by the British East India Company. It was a strategic check to immediate British ambitions in India and a shock to British military prestige. In essence the British got a thoroughly good beating forcing them to retire with tails withdrawn. They however returned with numerous reinforcements and carried out wholesale massacres in the city of Gujrat making the Chenab run red. They subsequently set up a battalion in Jhelum and named it "the city of soldiers"

The Battle of the Hydaspes River was fought by Alexander the Great in 326 BC against the Hindu King Porus (Pururava in Sanskrit) on the banks of the Hydaspes River (Jhelum River) In those days Kala Gujran would have been the favoured large city in the area. The Paurava kingdom of King Porus was situated here and many elite trained personnel would have been conscripted from Kala Gujran or Kamboja. The Hydaspes was the last major and most costly battle fought by Alexander.[15] King Porus and his Tikri Gujjar men put up a fierce resistance against the invading Macedonian army which won the admiration and respect of Alexander.[16] Although victorious, Alexander's exhausted army mutinied soon after, when he made plans to cross river Hydaspes (Beas River), and refused to go further into India.

Ancient vedic texts describe the area as being part of Kamboja kingdom, dominated by Hun warrior classes excelling at hand to hand combat, horsemanship and a mercenary attitude. The war horses of Kamboja were famous through all periods of Indian History. In the great battle fought on the fields of Kurukshetra, the fastest and powerful horses of Kamboja were of greatest service. There is significantly mention that the people were distinctly different to the rest of the kingdom in their appearance, stature, physical prowess, dress religious beliefs and practises, further reference and conjecture to the Huns or Aryan theories as described in history. This also cross references with ancient and recent historical battles and famous or infamous individuals with direct lineage to the Gujjar Tikkri clans.

Indeed the Gujjars were once the most influential group and chieftains of Kala Gujran (hence the name). It is of no surprise then that the British when they did take over the region decided to not allow the Gujjars to join the military or civil service citing them as unreliable, unfit and associated very strongly to the criminal and mercenary Thuggee gangs. Going so far as to criminalise them with the introduction of Criminal Tribes Act of 1871. A rather nefarious concept given the area is famously known as the land of martyrs and warriors and many specialised as mercenary fighters. When it was eventually repealed and the Gujjars were allowed to join the ranks they were instrumental during the 1857 uprisings, indian mutiny.

During subsequent periods the Gujjars in this area did not take advantage of the political process being easily manipulated by puppet regimes instilled by the colonial British rulers to tactfully divide and rule the princely states. A process so deeply engrained that relics of it still create problems to this day. The following celebrities were born in this town;

• Mirza Mohammad Ibrahim, Labour Leader
• Inder Kumar Gujral, former Prime Minister of India
• Lieutenant General Jagjit Singh Aurora of the Indian Army

References